Petroleum
We presently obtain about 75% of use in Connecticut from petroleum. This is a source of power to fuel our automobiles, trucks and airplanes and no adequate substitute is available for that purpose. However, we also use it to generate much of our It is
convenient
to use as a liquid fuel and it is relatively low in pollutants when compared to coal. Our generating plants were either designed for oil or converted from coal to oil use when oil was cheap and plentiful.
However, there are several reasons why we should not depend so heavily upon oil for heat
and
electricity. Over one third of the oil we use is imported and this leaves us at the mercy of unstable foreign governments for vital fuels. It is also very expensive, having increased from seven a barrel to over thirty dollars a barrel in the past decade.
Since oil is so suitable for automobiles, and as the basic material for many of the synthetic materials we have come to take for granted, it seems inappropriate to use it for heat when other fuels are available.
Oil is a fossil fuel and thus is not unlimited in supply. Many experts predict that the reserves will be essentially exhausted over the next half century. We have used in less than one hundred years, the oil nature took millions of years to transform. We can conserve a great deal by burning other fuels for electricity, by driving smaller fuel efficient cars, by using mass transit when possible and by walking and biking when we can.
Coal
While coal is also a fossil fuel, we have much larger supplies available. Experts predict that the United States has enough coal to last up to 1500 years. As coal is plentiful
in
America, it would greatly decrease our dependence on foreign oil.
Unfortunately, cheap oil lured us away from coal and most electric generating plants converted from coal to oil in the past thirty years. In New England, in 1947, nearly half of our energy came from coal—in 1981 only one fifth was from coal. There are deposits of coal suitable for mining in Rhode Island and Maine, but the size of the deposits and the accessibility of the sites makes coal minting in New England a questionable proposition.
However, coal also has its drawbacks . Mining is a dangerous occupation, causing accidental death, respiratory difficulties such as emphysema and “black lung” disease. Deposits vary
in
quality and much of it has a high sulfur content which is very polluting to the air. The sulfur is converted to sulfuric acid which leads to acid rain which crops and fish in rivers and lakes. Coal mining is destructive to the land on which it is mined and many deposits are in areas difficult
Natural Gas
Natural gas is also a fossil fuel, formed from plants and animals that died and decayed in the absence of oxygen millions of years ago. It is the cleanest and least polluting of our fossil fuels. Presently it accounts for about one third of the heat energy in this country for homes (space heating). Estimates of available reserves vary greatly from one source to another and much research is being done on more ways to use it.
Solar
To many, solar energy seems to be an obvious solution to our energy problems. There is an inexhaustible supply that is readily available to everyone. However, we do not yet have the technology available to efficiently use it, or to store its energy for times when the sun does not shine.
There are two ways of utilizing the sun’s energy, passive solar energy, and active solar energy. Passive solar energy involves absorbing and storing the energy from the sun in the most efficient way, without involving such technologies as circulators, or attempting to transform the sun’s heat into electrical energy. This is accomplished by taking advantage of the “greenhouse effect”. Light rays will enter through the glass in a solar collector, or a window in a house, and be absorbed by the materials behind the glass which will become warmer. Some of this heat is radiated back out into space, but the longer heat rays are trapped and cannot escape back through the glass. The greater the mass you have behind the glass to store the heat, the greater the amount of energy which can be stored.
Active solar energy is a much more complicated process, involving such things as thermostats which valves when appropriate temperatures are reached, employs motors and pumps to circulate heated water or air, and involves a great initial investment.
We now know of many ways to build a house that effectively utilizes heat from the sun, and it is relatively inexpensive to include these so-called “passive solar” features in a new home. However, there are millions of existing buildings and homes that would be exhorbinantly expensive to change to take advantage of the sun’s energy, or “retrofit” for solar.
Solar research is not popular with the energy industry because—let us face it—no one owns the sun. They may be able to sell us the materials and equipment to use the sun, but selling sunlight would be more difficult than selling the Brooklyn Bridge. Research is being done on converting sunlight to electric energy, but not enough money and energy are going into the effort to get exciting results as yet. More effort is being spent looking for new sources of oil.
In order to greatly reduce the energy needed in a home, it should have glass facing south, with heat absorbing material such as a brick wall or spanish tile floors behind the glass to absorb the heat when the sun shines, and radiate it when the room is cool. Old oil barrels painted black and filled with water make very effective absorbers. The house should be well insulated, and trees should be planted to give summer shade but access to the sun in winter. The north side should be well protected with evergreen trees and should have no windows.
Our homes and apartments can be altered, however, with relatively little expense, to increase their energy efficiency and solar absorbing power. we can add insulation, install storm windows (cheap plastic film will do), and make inside shutters for winter use. Tightly fitted heavy cardboard will do the trick if wood runs into too much expense. Drapes and curtains do not hold in heat. Heated air rises up behind the curtains and is cooled by the windows, defeating their intended purpose. Experimental greenhouses added to the southern exposure of existing homes has cut fuel by up to 20%.
Wood
New England is 80% wooded. At first glance this would seem to be a magic answer for us, but there are many problems. Heating with wood is inconvenient. Most Americans are not willing to chop, stack and carry wood, tend the fires, and put up with the unevenness of heat that is produced in a wood stove. Most much heat up the chimney.
Seventy-five percent of our woodlands are privately owned, and much of this is not available for fuel. If not carefully monitored, lumbering can be destructive to our forests and woodlands. The chainsaw is a dangerous weapon and many accidents could occur in the hands of amateurs.
Water Power
New England has many rivers and streams and many small hydroelectric plants are in existence but out of service, replaced by larger fossil fuel generators. Reactivating them could economically augment the power supply of many of our small communities and industries. Here too, though, are some disadvantages. The dams and generators can be destructive to fishing and recreation and can interfere with water supplies.
Power generated by the great tidal surges would seem to be suitable for a coastal area such as ours, but it is only practical to harness tides in areas where the incoming tides are funneled into a narrow area and a very high “head” is built up. There are only a couple of places suitable as sites, and they are on our northern borders and most will require Canadian cooperation for development.
There is some research being done on generating power from the heat absorbed by the sea from the sun and exchanging the warmed waters with the colder deep water.
Solid Waste
Many communities are experimenting with converting solid wastes (garbage) to fuel. This not only turns a disposal problem into a power source, but also leads to recycling of metals which can be salvaged in the process. This has been tried in Bridgeport without much success. There were unpleasant odors, residents objected to the constant flow of incoming garbage, and pollution was a problem. The technology involved still needs much developing.
There are in existence several successful solid waste conversion facilities. Nashville heats part of its business district with waste, and Chicago has a project which seems to be working.
Wind Power
While it is certainly practical to use old existing windmills for pumping and thus saving power, wind generated electricity would be unreliable in New England. In most cases the cost of the wind generator cannot be recovered in a reasonable time from the output of electricity. The most popular available type plugs into the home circuit, generating when the wind blows, and cutting off when it is calm. The law states that any excess power generated by an individual mill must be purchased by the electric company. Winds are just not constant and predictable enough in this area to warrant the investment.
To depend completely on wind generated power means that it must be stored for calm periods. I have examined some of these systems in operation and one large outside wall was completely built in with storage batteries to keep a relatively constant supply. The best systems available are not too reliable nor do they generate the amount of power we need to power our appliances.
Geothermal Power
Geothermal power is obtained by heating water with the hot rocks beneath the surface of the earth. This is not suitable in the northeast because the hot interior of the earth is far beneath the surface here. Some areas, however, such as Northern California, Wyoming and Iceland have a very thin crust and thus a cheap source of power is available. Suitable technology is rapidly developing.
Nuclear Powe
r
At the present time our nuclear energy is obtained from a process called fission. This occurs when a uranium atom is struck by a sub-atomic particle called a neutron and splits into two lighter nuclei, releasing much energy in the process and sending off more neutrons to split other nuclei in a “chain reaction”.
This process does not pollute the air and saves millions of barrels of oil per year, lessening our dependence on foreign oil. It uses only small amounts of radioactive elements to do its job.
One of the waste products of fission is plutonium, a radioactive substance that remains dangerous for hundreds of years. Shipping this substance through our populated areas is a very unpopular project, and finding a safe place to store it is extremely difficult. This substance can also be manufactured into atomic bombs. Already there is a substantial amount that cannot be accounted for.
There is always the danger that we will not be able to cool the reactor sufficiently and that it will overheat and melt through its container. This is the dreaded “meltdown” which would release radioactive substances into the environment. It should be noted, however, that no serious accident has ever occurred at a nuclear reactor.
Two other types of nuclear generators are now expert mental, One, the breeder reactor, is a fission generator that produces new fuel as it generates energy. This new fuel is created as a product of the splitting of the original atoms and more fuel is produced than was originally placed in the reactor.
The other, fusion generation, involves the same type of reaction that produces energy in the sun. In this process, two hydrogen atoms fuse to form one heavier helium atom, releasing energy in the process. In order for this fusion to take place the hydrogen must be heated to millions of degrees. The problem facing engineers and scientists is containing this extremely hot matter. We are attempting to contain it in electromagnetic fields and laser beams are being experimented with. If we could perfect the technology, this would be an extremely useful fuel source. We have unlimited hydrogen available for fuel in the waters of the oceans. The helium produced would pose no radioactive hazards and the process would stop itself as soon as it cooled. The problems would be to keep it going, not as with fusion, to keep it under control.
Now that we have looked at the various alternatives available to us, we will have to choose that combination of power sources that will best allow us to have a future with the kind of standard of living we desire, without depleting our resources or polluting our environment to the point that it reduces our quality of life. The choices will not be easy. Sacrifices will have to be made. The population of the world is rapidly increasing and we cannot continue to use a disproportionate portion of the world’s resources with impunity.
Activities
Questionnaire about energy use in New Haven
(These are sample questions only. Students should help devise the list)
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1. Do you heat with coal, oil, electricity or natural gas?
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2. What is the usual temperature setting in winter?
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3. Are you air conditioned? What is the temperature setting?
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4. Does the building have storm windows? Insulation?
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5. What is the source of most of your electricity?
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6. Do you approve or disapprove of power generated from atomic energy?
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7. Has your energy consumption increased or decreased over the past three years?
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8. Do energy costs significantly affect your profit?
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9. Do you plan on instituting any energy saving measures in the near future? What are they?
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10. Do you feel that conservation measures could significantly affect your energy costs?
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11. Do you believe there really is an energy crisis?
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12. What is the cause of the so-called energy crisis.
Role Playing
In order to demonstrate the difficulties involved in coming to community agreement on energy and related environmental problems, variations of the following role playing activity can be used successfully, after the information in the unit has been fairly well absorbed. This can then be expanded to “how just how difficult it is to solve these on a statewide or national basis, let alone internationally.
The problem is as follows: The small town of Clearwater is in a beautiful valley on the shores of a winding river. This river used to be excellent for fishing and swimming. The town has an electric generating plant which uses cheap, high sulfur coal from a nearby mine. This cheap power was the main reason for the “Blue Gadget Corporation” locating its factory there. The coal mines employ 23% of the town workers and the factory employs 33% of the work force. However, pollution from this dirty coal has become so bad that the fish can no longer survive in the river, it is no longer to swim in and respiratory illness have shown a sharp increase.
Environmental groups in the town have succeeded in having a town meeting called to try to find a solution to the problem. The teacher plays the role of town clerk and as such moderates the meeting. Students should be given their assigned roles a few days before the meeting in order to prepare their statements and to be armed with pertinent “facts. for the debates which will occur. Since first devising this activity, it has been observed that students become very involved in the project and learn a great deal from it. The teacher can usually learn a surprising amount as well.
Roles
Bill Jones
. Mayor. Mr. Jones is married and has two sons. He also owns the local bowling alley which depends mainly on local workers for its income. He is up for re-election in three months time.
Carol Thomson and Tom Smith
. They are local high school students who represent the Environmental Club at the school. They both are avid water sports fans and they have led the movement that obtained several thousand signatures on a petition to require the local power plant to convert to oil—a much cleaner but more expensive type of fuel.
George Watson, M.D.
Dr. Watson, local physician, has noted a 70% increase in respiratory ailments over the past 6 years. His own 7 year old daughter suffers from asthma.
Leroy McIvor
. Leroy is president of the power company. He has a beautiful home 7 miles north of the town, which avoids the pollution. His board of directors has advised him to fight the petition all the way because the price of power would almost double if the conversion were forced by law.
Margaret Donaldson
. This lady is president of the Blue Gadget factory. she has a beautiful old home near the river and is also president of the local historical society. She is married and has one daughter who lives in town and three grandchildren. She has been instructed by her board of directors that if the price of power increases by a very wide margin, that it will no longer be economically feasible to operate the factory at that site and it will simply close down throwing many men out of work.
Ben Stephens
is president of the coal miners union and a long time resident of the town. His teenage children are very unhappy because they can no longer swim or fish in the river. His members are afraid that they will be out of work if the power company converts to oil and no longer uses the coal. Shipping it out of the area would be a problem.
Similar sketches of the motivations and responsibilities of town citizens can be given until each student has a part to play. Care should be taken to give enough information about the character to guide the student in the attitudes he or she must take, without giving so much guidance that the student has no leeway to be creative.
Model Building
Students should be supplied with simple model building materials such as cardboard, clear plastic, balsa wood, etc. Using the information they have absorbed about landscaping, insulation, passive solar energy, etc. they should be broken up into groups of three or four students and asked to build a model of an energy efficient apartment or home.
Long Range Planning
Students again be broken into small groups and instructed to develop a long range plan for energy conservation and development of suitable energy sources for the New England area.
